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Crime not on presidential contest radar

USATODAY
9:22 p.m. EDT September 27, 2012

The Century 16 theater in Aurora, Colo., where a gunman opened fire during the opening of the new Batman movie "The Dark Knight Rises" on July 20. During a year punctuated by mass shootings, crime has rated a forgettable asterisk in a recent Gallup Poll.(Photo: Jonathan Castner, AFP/Getty Images)

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WASHINGTON -- Presidents and lesser politicians have been delivered to victory more often than not for taking tough stands on crime.

Yet during a year punctuated by mass shootings at a Colorado movie theater and temple in Wisconsin, crime has all but vanished from public discussion this campaign season.

In a presidential election cycle dominated by concerns for a faltering economy and unemployment, crime rated a forgettable asterisk earlier this month in a Gallup Poll, representing less than 1% of Americans who believed it was the nation's most pressing problem.

"When the economy is as big a problem as it is, it kind of squashes out the others," said Frank Newport, Gallup's editor in chief.

The campaigns of President Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney suggest that the candidates have consistently expressed their commitment to public safety.

Calling for the creation of a Veterans Job Corps this summer, Obama said troops returning from war could fill jobs as police and firefighters. This week, he also pledged a more aggressive effort to thwart human trafficking and forced labor.

"President Obama's policies have kept cops and other first responders on the street to keep our communities safe," Obama spokesman Adam Fetcher said.

"The important challenges faced by our rank-and-file officers, the real issues in public safety, and the problems that our criminal justice system is facing are not the focus of either campaign," FOP President Chuck Canterbury said earlier this month.

“"Real issues in public safety, and the problems that our criminal justice system is facing are not the focus of either campaign."”

FOP's Chuck Canterbury

According to polling data, however, 2012 represents just one more presidential election in which the often-emotional issue of crime has ranked near the bottom of the public agenda. The last time crime rated as the top concern of the American public was in 1996, according to Gallup.

"The most important responsibility of an elected official is to provide for the safety of the people they represent, and we haven't heard much talk about that," said Jim Pasco, the FOP's executive director.

"When there is the kind of violence that we have seen this summer, you do expect there to be a discussion about it," he said. "But it seems like it is the last thing on the public agenda."

Chuck Wexler, executive director of the law enforcement think tank Police Executive Research Forum, said the apparent lack of attention is "a sign of the times."

"Twenty years ago, the homicide rate was double what it is today," he said. "If we compare ourselves against ourselves, crime has declined fairly dramatically. But if we compare ourselves to countries like the United Kingdom, that's another story." There were more than 600 murders in Great Britain last year, compared to more than 13,000 in the U.S.

"The gun issue is radioactive in this country for both Democrats and Republicans," Wexler said. "No one nationally has spoken about it. It's not even on the radar screen."